Effect of rate of chilling on the variability in texture of the beef round

Abstract

Six sides of beef were chilled under widely differing conditions and the toughness measured at locations across a slice of the round. When beef carcasses were held for 6 h before chilling at 2"C, the variation in toughness across each muscle was usually small and regions of toughness varied between animals. Such variations are unimportant commercially and, for most experimental purposes, locations within each muscle may be randomised with little loss of information. The exception was the M. biceps fernoris in which the caudal region was consistently tougher than the crania1 region. When chilled to 7°C in 24 h, the cold-shortening toughness was induced to a depth of about 4cm. The resulting variation was often so large that it made the average toughness value virtually meaningless.

Growth ofSalmonellaon chilled meat

“…'Immediately' is open to interpretation as the rate of cooling is not specified. If a carcass is chilled to an internal temperature of 7°C within 24 h of slaughter, as the Directive appears to recommend, the outer portions may undergo an irreversible form of toughening known as 'cold shortening' (Dransfield & Jones, 1978), while maintaining the internal temperature of meat at 7°C during cutting necessitates a surface temperature of 1-3°C which often results in meat that is difficult to cut. This has caused industrial problems in many parts of the world, hence the necessity of bringing the internal temperature of the meat to 7°C prior to cutting is being questioned.…”

Relationship between tenderness of three beef Muscles

“…Variations in texture between beef muscles arise from differences in composition132 and carcass handling. 3 The 'eating quality' of a carcass is therefore difficult to define, particularly as assessments are often made on one muscle. It is important to establish whether any single muscle is representative of the carcass as a whole and which muscle is the best predictor of quality.…”